Study the experiment you will be performing before you come to lab. (Note: The order of experiments in the lab manual may not be the same as the official lab schedule listed in the front of the manual and on the physics labs website). As you prepare for each lab, you should predict the results you expect from the experiment and carefully consider what factors will most significantly affect these results and how you can best control for systematic and random errors. Most of the labs have pre-lab questions, which should be carefully considered before coming to lab. Your lab instructor will generally assign several of these questions for you to answer on paper and turn in at the beginning of the lab period. This pre-lab assignment will count as 15% of your overall score for your lab report. Most labs also require a data table, which you should create on your data sheet or on an electronic spreadsheet and bring to lab.

What to bring to lab